Three years from now, Nigeria will mark the 30th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 election. In the same year, a new president will be sworn in. There is little doubt that there will be many debates on Nigerian democracy, its future and past to mark these twin signal dates.
Common to both is the legacy of former president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.). As sure as death and taxes, the Minna-born general’s name will be wheeled out of quiet retirement in his hilltop abode to be abused, blamed and spat on for aborting Nigeria’s march into paradise on earth.
It is no secret that Babangida has been vilified as the demiurge of all evils plaguing modern Nigeria. He is the easy to grab bogeyman, always handy for DIY jobs by lazy commentators of Nigerian politics.
And why not? After all, it was he who announced that an election which was widely labeled as the ‘freest and fairest election in Nigerian history’ had been canceled. Only a few Nigerians have bothered to ask what caused him to take that decision. Easy explanations around his reluctance to leave power fall flat because, if he wanted to, he could have aborted the elections long before the polls.
To a large extent, he does seem to have resigned himself to shouldering this weighty historical burden, barely uttering an oomph to challenge the characterization. When confronted he does not rationalize, take a defensive stance or freeze in the headlight glare. His standard response has always been that the buck stops at his table.
If he does not care, some do care. Some who remember the purpose and vision he brought to leadership, then compare that with what came after feel he has let them down with his indifference.
Some who recall his detribalised leadership have a right to be disturbed by his recapitulation in the face of vicious attacks by those who know the truth and deny it, as well as those who do not know the truth yet stubbornly refuse to be educated.
Julius Caesar, a man he’s been compared to, would not sit in Stoic contemplation in a corner man while Visigoths sack the sacred Roman places. This is what is happening today. Vandals are allowed to tarnish the memory of those golden years (1985 – 1993) because of one act.
Our patience is tried thin by a man we admire because he has not stood up to defend his legacy.
For how much longer will we stand idly by watching our hero pilloried in the public square? If he does not care, we do. Otherwise, he risks falling into the eternal Dantesque hell that a section of Chilean society threw General Augusto Pinochet.
IBB is not and was never perfect. What he was, and even his traducers will admit this, was a listening ruler willing to learn, ready to compromise and eager to build bridges.
These are qualities sorely lacking at the highest echelons of decision-making in Nigeria today.
From the outset, this writer would like to state that he is not embarking on a wholesale revisionist campaign.
Yet, certain facts about the IBB Presidency are undeniable. I will mention just 5.
1). During his 8-year presidency, Nigeria witnessed the most sustained infrastructural development program since the oil boom years of the 70s
2). He was the architect of the Babangida Doctrine in foreign affairs. The Technical Aid Corps and ECOMOG are just two fruits of that doctrine
3). He supported the devolution of powers to the grassroots through additional state and local government creation
4). He took the first bold steps in liberalizing our national economy, and privatizing the bloated public sector
5). Despite being a military ruler, he pulled together a coalition of talent, Nigeria’s best and brightest, to drive his administration’s policies. Regardless of tribe, creed and ideological leanings, IBB saw behold sectarian divisions and looked to the bigger picture of what an individual could contribute to Nigerian greatness.
I could go on, but indulge me to pause here.
Next let’s turn to the scarlet branding of his legacy with the June 12 iron rod.
Is it fair? Or could there be a subterranean agenda at play?
In the course of Nigerian’s modern history, many of our heroes committed acts that sullied their reputations but posterity has been lenient. I will recall a few.
1). Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe effectively destroyed the trust and fraternity between Igbos and the other tribes of the then Eastern Region when he returned to the Eastern House of Assembly, effectively usurping the position of Professor Eyo Ita. The odorous case of £2 million and his conflict of interest at African Continental Bank is not forgotten nor his convenient absence during the night of the January 1966 coup. Yet posterity has wisely not pinned these on Zik’s memory. He is still celebrated as the Zik of Africa. No leader can be perfect in every way, all the time.
2). Sir Ahmadu Bello, revered premier of Northern Nigeria, never hid his anti-southern Nigerian sentiments. He was the guiding hand behind the Western crisis that caused to thousands of deaths and imposition of Chief Ladoke Akintola as premier of the Western Region. He actively pursued policies that alienated non-northern ethnic groups in the north, especially those in government service. His merciless Native Authority foot soldiers went beyond the pale in crushing any opposition political party in the north. His forced Islamization of the Middle Belt is also undeniable. These are historical facts. But today, posterity has inflated his good works – and there are indeed a long list of such worthy deeds – while his less glittering sides have been laundered.
3). Chief Obafemi Awolowo pushed policies that led to the starvation of several hundred thousand children in the enclave of the self-styled Republic of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War and the post-war impoverishment of Igbos. This is a fact. Today, he is not remembered for his genocidal brutality or economic carpet bombing. Instead, he is celebrated as ‘the best president Nigeria never had,’ which is not surprising considering the outstanding progress achieved under his leadership of the Western Region such as free education as well as the generations of leaders he spawned.
4). General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) was fingered for his knowledge and possible puppet master role in the bloody coup of Lt. Col. Bukar Suka Dimka. Dimka assassinated General Murtala Muhammed during his failed attempt to take over power that on that fateful Friday 13, 1976. Gowon was living in the United Kingdom during that period. Today, he is revered as the man who ended the Civil War with the humanist proclamation, ‘no victor, no vanquished’, and as a Praying Statesman, and this is rightly so. Posterity has not cast him as a vengeful malefactor out to get his pound of flesh from those who threw him out of office in 1975
5). General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd.) by certain acts in office should have been hauled before the War Crimes Tribunal at the International Criminal Court, The Hague for murders committed under his presidency (1999 – 2007). He gave orders to the Nigerian Army to level Odi (1999) and later, Zaki-Biam (2001). Rather, he receives accolades today as one of Africa’s top sages. This stature is befitting considering his tireless interventions for peaceful elections, and pan-African unity.
This is enough said for now.
With all these in mind, one must then ask, ‘have we been fair to IBB?’
Is it not said that what is good for the goose is good for the gander?
I leave you to decide.
Chukwuanugo is based in Lagos.
